I found myself in the same situation about 2 years ago.

I had 170k on my '97, and was finally getting the $$$ to start a real build. I was back and forth about building the '97 or looking for something new, so I just held off and kept my eye on the local market for awhile to see what popped up.

When the '01 came up for sale, I went to have a look. It turned out it was a 1 owner vehicle with complete service records, and it was bone stock except for what was under the hood. It had a dealer installed 2nd gen S/C, TRD Headers, TRD exhaust, TRD 7th injector, and a TRD trans cooler.

It was never wrecked, had original paint & a perfect body, all matching VIN's on the body panels, ZERO rust, was purchased from a local ABQ, NM dealer, and had only 112K on the clock.

The seller could have offered this truck for $10k WITHOUT any of the TRD add ons, yet I was able to negotiate a price of $10k for the truck as it sat.

I couldn't pass it up, so I bought it and went nuts. Sure I would have liked to install the S/C myself. The headers, not so much (that job is a major PITA, so I was happy to buy a truck with headers already installed). The rest I have since removed/tweaked/replaced/re-installed.

Had I not found such a good deal w/the '01, I'm not sure what direction I would have gone because I haven't seen a deal like that one since. I probably would have dived into the '97 but I doubt I would have built it to the extent that I have built the '01.

I feel like the '01 was a better platform for me to start with... it had alot of things that I was looking for that the '97 didn't. (IE updated interior, sunroof, fender flares, hood scoop, etc). In the end it all depends on what makes sense to you. If I were you I would shop around a bit. Consider what you could sell your current truck for (say $4500) and how much maintenance it needs to be equivalent to a lower mileage truck (say $3000). Then go look at what you could buy for that same $7500. See where the best value is at for your own personal tastes, and do what works for you.

PS... like Rip said, if you need help w/anything let us know. Between the two of us we've done just about everything you can do on these trucks short of pulling out the engine/trans/t-case.